Paralysis

He walks purely from memory, his numb steps fractioned into a series of movements called up by rote. Left foot forward 11 inches and slightly to the side, hike the hip, bend the knee, strike the heel. Now the right. Hours before he was to appear at the podium in the Curtis Center on Saturday night to pick up the highest award given by the Philadelphia chapter of the Fight For Sight, Jerry Segal was scoping out the territory. Two steps, no railing. "I think I can do it," he said.

Unless he can quickly raise $270,000, a Saudi man will soon face court-ordered surgical paralysis from the waist down, Amnesty International reports. Justice in Saudi Arabia in the 21st Century still revolves around the principle of lex talionis , better known to Westerners as "an eye for an eye. " The case stems from 2003, when, Ali al-Khawahir, then 14, stabbed a friend in the back. The crime caused al-Khawahir's friend to be paralyzed from the waist down. Finding him guilty in the assault, the court in the town of Al-Ahsa sentenced al-Khawahir to "qisas" - retribution - or pay the victims's family one million Saudi riyals in "blood money.

Alfred Thompkins was once arrested for beating his girlfriend and throwing his wheelchair at her. On another occasion he was taken to a hospital complaining of chest pains suffered while having sex. What's the significance? Well, at the time, Thompkins, 39, was in the middle of litigation against the city and its Prison Health Services and physicians, claiming they were responsible for his paralysis from a minor prison bus accident in 1995. He sought more than $3 million.

CHRISTOPHER REEVE leaves the world with an enduring example of courage, though not because he starred in "Superman" movies of the 1980s. It is no particular act of bravery, after all, to face bullets when you are bulletproof. It's what Reeve did when he was confronted, cruelly and suddenly, with human vulnerability that gave us all a lesson in heroism. In 1995, on a spring day in Virginia, Reeve was thrown from his mount during a riding competition. He fractured his neck, damaged his spinal cord and was instantly paralyzed from the neck down.

With a hoist and a sudden mechanical groan, Dan Webb, 44, stands up in the rehabilitation gym at MossRehab in Elkins Park, grinning from ear to ear. You might say standing is not such a big deal, unless, like Webb, who fell from a tree stand while bowhunting in 2010 and suffered incomplete paralysis of the lower half of his body, you've spent a year of your life in a wheelchair. In his case, it's a very big deal indeed. And Webb, of Warminster - who has been working with exoskeleton technology for two years at MossRehab - can do more than stand.

Christopher Prendes, 18, was minding his business at a Miami park when some youths demanded his go-cart, and one pulled a gun. "I was getting off of it, and he shot me in the back," Prendes said. "After I heard the bang, that was it. My legs went numb. "A 15-year-old put me in this chair. " On that November day, Prendes, a high school senior, became part of a dismal trend - a growing number of paralysis cases due to gun violence. Drive down almost any urban street, and you will see them: young men in wheelchairs.

The family of Marple Newtown High School wrestler Louis Sciotto, alarmed at rumors about their son's spinal damage in a wrestling accident, issued a statement yesterday setting the record straight on his condition. He "suffered an injury to his spinal cord fairly high up," the statement said. "And he will be left with some paralysis. " Doctors are not sure of the extent of the paralysis, but Sciotto is expected to remain at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for at least several months, said his uncle, Chuck Freels.

Challenges are nothing new to Edward J. Coyle Jr. He had polio when he was 2 years old. For years he went through the rigors of intensive physical therapy and managed to regain full function of all but his right leg, which suffers from residual paralysis. Coyle, of Wallingford, who has his own sports medicine and physical conditioning business, wears a leg brace to help compensate for the paralysis in his right leg. But the paralysis has never held him back. If anything, it has pushed and motivated him. While a student at Monsignor Bonner High, Coyle rowed on the crew team and played football.

To escape the midafternoon sun, Katie Samson parked her wheelchair in the shade and explained how she had grown comfortable with her lifestyle. Although her condition might limit her, she certainly wouldn't allow it to define her, Samson said. A few moments earlier, a bubbly group of teenage girls' lacrosse players had bustled through the open gate and greeted Samson, their assistant coach, while clutching equipment bags and lacrosse sticks. Before the events of a snowy night in January 2000, Samson was one of them.

HIS PHONE buzzed and "Patrick" popped up on the screen. Shawn Cannon already had a pit in his stomach. It was 4:30 last Monday afternoon. It was too early. His son, Patrick, wasn't finished hockey practice for another hour. His fear was confirmed upon answering, when a voice other than his son was on the other end. "It was Shane, my son's teammate, telling me that Patrick got hurt in practice. He didn't say how bad, but I could tell it was serious," Shawn Cannon said. "An ambulance was already at the rink.

With a hoist and a sudden mechanical groan, Dan Webb, 44, stands up in the rehabilitation gym at MossRehab in Elkins Park, grinning from ear to ear. You might say standing is not such a big deal, unless, like Webb, who fell from a tree stand while bowhunting in 2010 and suffered incomplete paralysis of the lower half of his body, you've spent a year of your life in a wheelchair. In his case, it's a very big deal indeed. And Webb, of Warminster - who has been working with exoskeleton technology for two years at MossRehab - can do more than stand.

Molly was a feisty dog until one day last August, when the 7-year-old puggle's spunk came to an abrupt halt. She vomited once in the morning. Three hours later, she lost the ability to support herself on her hind legs; within an hour, all four limbs stopped working altogether. "She was completely paralyzed and flat as a pancake," recalled her owner, Becky Sitarchuk of Philadelphia. Right away, the Sitarchuks took Molly to the veterinarian near their Lewes, Del., vacation home.

TONY WILLIAMS wasn't about to let a little thing like being paralyzed from the neck down keep him from having a full and productive life. Tony not only overcame his own disability, but he helped others who were also afflicted cope with their conditions. Anthony Eric Williams, an accountant and Navy veteran whose life was forever changed about 25 years ago when he was shot in the neck during a robbery, died Nov. 11 of heart failure. He was 52 and lived in Wynnefield. Former Gov. Tom Ridge appointed Tony to the board of the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council, of which he served twice as chairman.

Unless he can quickly raise $270,000, a Saudi man will soon face court-ordered surgical paralysis from the waist down, Amnesty International reports. Justice in Saudi Arabia in the 21st Century still revolves around the principle of lex talionis , better known to Westerners as "an eye for an eye. " The case stems from 2003, when, Ali al-Khawahir, then 14, stabbed a friend in the back. The crime caused al-Khawahir's friend to be paralyzed from the waist down. Finding him guilty in the assault, the court in the town of Al-Ahsa sentenced al-Khawahir to "qisas" - retribution - or pay the victims's family one million Saudi riyals in "blood money.

A Camden man purposely shot his 11-year-old daughter in the face late Thursday, and the child might be paralyzed, authorities said Friday. The shooting occurred about 9:30 in a rowhouse on the 1300 block of Thurman Street in the Whitman Park section. The girl was in critical but stable condition at Cooper University Hospital on Friday. "It was not an accident. He pointed the gun at her face and pulled the trigger," said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

There's an old saying that liberals will support intervention in a foreign conflict as long as nothing resembling national interest is at stake. If the cause is purely humanitarian - if the refinement of American morality is the only possible benefit - liberals just might back military force to help a starved, invaded, or otherwise oppressed people. Which brings me to the baffling subject of Syria. Like many observers of the Obama administration, I've been confused by its unwillingness to take even relatively modest steps to bring about a decisive end to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: I find that when someone I care about comes to me stressed out or needing support, I am woefully inept. I am adept at helping out financially or planning out something they need to be done, but if they need me to say something supportive or just be there, I feel empty. I feel myself stressing with them and getting panicky - and if it's someone very much involved in my life, like partner or parent, I feel guilty, like I am responsible.

WHEN PRESIDENT Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, many Americans, including some who voted for him, scratched their heads. Only a few years removed from the Illinois state Senate, our newly minted leader had won the Humanitarian Oscar for playing a bit role. He wasn't Bill Clinton, who'd seen the carnage in Bosnia and (finally) used the full force of NATO air strikes to stanch the flow of Muslim blood. He wasn't George W. Bush, who spent millions of dollars to eliminate AIDS in Africa.

I doubt that the average American is pondering the political death of Dick Lugar. Heck, most might think "Dick Lugar" sounds like the name of the hero of a spy novel. But what happened to Lugar last week is a sign of the polarization that cripples Washington and is likely to impede rational governance no matter who wins the White House in November. The six-term Republican senator from Indiana was knocked off in a primary for a number of reasons. But what really fueled his landslide defeat at the hands of a tea-party insurgent was this fundamental fact: He occasionally had the temerity to work with Democrats.